The Comic Strip- The theme of "Hatred"

When I was little, comic strips only came by when I got the comic section of the newspaper from my parents. What I experienced when I was little was different from what people had to deal with back then with The comic strip era from what I could tell had some serious heavy tones that you wouldn't expect from such child like figures. One of them is Schultz's Peanuts. Charlie Brown talks about mature themes that most stories couldn't portray with little children. Even though there is always a punchline on the forth panel, sometimes its themes are still present for the reader to experience. While having elements like therapy sessions and the other children bashing on Charlie Brown for something, characters like Snoopy always had comedic, lighthearted moments to contrast with the strip. What really set the tone for the comic was how bad and abused Charlie Brown is treated for no real reason. For just some simple mistakes people see him in a negative light. One of the most prominent example is the character Violet. While Lucy treats everybody bad, Violet mainly goes after Charlie Brown just to put him down to make her mood better. She was even the one who originally coined the word "block-head", which is what Lucy constantly uses. Not that Charlie Brown isn't depicted as a failure. He can't fly a kite, win a baseball game or even kick a football. His failure and the constant abuse by others would make anyone depressed, which goes back to the therapy sessions he goes to. These are themes that adults go through and it's weird to have a child go through that but some moments are made lighthearted and comedic.

Another old comic strip that I came across was Krazy Kat. It was a little different to read since the characters actions were more wacky and silly. It stars a cat called "Krazy Kat" and a mouse named Ignatz that constantly throws bricks at him/her.  Ignatz throws his brick at Kat as a form of hatred which Kat misinterprets as affection and usually calls him little angel. While lighthearted, and fun, it seems to have a familiarity of Stockholm Syndrome. You confuse negative actions are love while not really having a clear understanding on the person's intention. However, "Krazy Kat" differs from Peanuts as either Ignatz plans never come to fruition, or he's the one who gets punished. Charlie Brown is forced to deal with the hatred while Kat just pretends it isn't existent and lives carefree.

While I have enjoyed both comics before, I'm more glad they eased up on Peanuts more (specifically Charlie Brown abuse). Krazy Kat wacky actions just appeal better but it wasn't as successful as Peanuts since it lasted longer, (like from 1950 to 2000 holy crap).

Art Spiegelman's Complete Maus- A graphic novel tale of survival

While trying to survive this crazy and stressful weekend, I've had time to read Art Spiegelman's Maus series. It was a lot to take in and was just the thing to remind me of how terrible the holocaust was for jewish people. The story was about Art writing and recording information about what the holocaust was like for his father and mother and what means they used to survive. Sometimes there is a break in between to story to show the interactions Art, his father, his wife and his step mother go through in-between the flashbacks. I feel this was necessary to not only give the reader a break from the story but to leave the reader wanting more and have a curiosity to know what happens next. It was also good to know what went through Art's own mind when writing this and some of the struggles he had to deal with in his childhood. I like how he used the depictions of animals to illustrate the characters so you can relate to them more and don't feel a close association with the other characters. Some of them are kind of funny like the french being frogs, the non jewish-polish being pigs, Jews as mice, and Germans  as cats. Maus's visual style was simple with the black and white not leaving any distractions from the narrative.

While the book was a fun read what really caught my eye was how I felt about the character Vladek. I was impressed by his ways of surviving like with handling a business and negotiating with people for survival. He saves food and rations incase he needs to use them for later and has a knowledge of several different languages and skills so he could be useful to others and not be killed. But when his depiction in post holocaust comes. He seems more strict and uptight with money and saves useless things. He's stuck in the past and keeps bringing up his dead wife Anja and dead son Richieu. He's also a racist and assumes all black people would steal from others when given the chance despite what he's been through. You can feel Artie's struggle with his troubled relationship with his father as his father is critical with everything. His constant fighting with his new wife, Mala, is present in the the story to show a different point of view with the hardship in living with his views. I'm not sure how Vladek would have turned out after the war but his personality was affected for sure. What's the most amazing was how he survived Auschwitz since that's where the gassing takes place and it's what killed his father, sister, wife's parents, and more. I wasn't sure if I should like Vladek or not but what I feel is more like pity than actual sadness.

To make matters worse in the experience was Anja's suicidal death and how it affected the family. I think the different ways they tried to cope with it was also interesting. Art wrote a comic about her death and made it to explain how she left was hard for him since she didn't even leave a note. For Vladek he went into great despair and destroyed all of her re-written diaries from her time in the Holocaust. Artie called him a "murder" for destroying all of her experience. I think that's the only word I could have used to describe his actions as it's like when her body was decreased her, he "murdered" her other life as well.


Reading Maus just led me to wanting to know more about what happened to others during the Holocaust and what they did to survive but also feeling sad over the aftermath and how they continue to live their lives after their struggle.

Underground Comix (Air Pirate Funnies, Fritz the Cat)- Mickey Goes Rated R

It's been a while since I've posted but here I am. Underground Comix aren't an unusual subject since I learned about them when I had to use them for a design class. They're known for their adult type genre with themes that you wouldn't expect from these comics. One of which I've read is called "Mickey Mouse meets the Air Pirate Funnies". Now you would expect the same kind of Disney crap that we see everyday but no. It's full of references to drinking, sexual activity and even violence. It's a way to see Mickey that you didn't think you would ever see. There are a few comedic moments but most is affiliated with adult humor. This is common for Underground Comix to have these depictions in their comics but it's still shocking to observe. Whether this affects how I or others see Mickey Mouse is up for debate. The use of foul language is also present in these comics where just saying "FUCK" is considered the norm and not vulgar behavior.

The depictions in Underground Comix are also interesting compared to other comic. One example is one I've read a while ago and have also seen the film to. The series is called "Fritz the Cat". It stars a feline con artist that has many adventures that sometimes led to sexual activities. One of the things the interest me about this comic is that it depicts african americans as crows to distinguish them from the other anamorphic animals. It's tone is heavy despite having cartoon animals as main characters. Each person it characterized as similar to that of a human and the anatomy is also an important part of their body. What makes this different from the Air Pirates is that the females are fully clothes in Fritz the Cat and have similar proportions.

With the depictions shown in Underground comix, I've come to question if there can really be enjoyment in finding cartoons experiencing in adult type themes. It feels heavy to me to see cartoon characters (especially ones from Disney) going through drinking and sex after watching a Mickey movie with your younger family members. It's just hard so see a character that was nice and plain turn dark and mature. While a little off topic it reminds me of the video game "Shadow the Hedgehog". It tried so hard to be edgy that it had some of the characters from the Sonic series swear like say "Damn" or "Hell". Both themes make it feel out of character for them to say such thing. Some might be able to find enjoyment from this if they look at it like a different approach. But for others like myself it feels shocking and uncomfortable. I appreciate Underground Comix for their themes and ideas, I cannot in all honesty say I enjoyed the adult nature in my "Mickey Mouse".

Strong Female Character: Bella Donna

I know this is a little off topic from what the class usually wants to discuss but I feel like blogging about this. It's been a while since I've read a comic that I whole heartily enjoyed. To me, this is one of the few comics I've seen where they have a strong female role represented as well as having her as a actually character. That she's not strong because she's female but she's strong because that's just the way she is. The comic is a european comic that was written by ANGE and illustrated by Pierre Alary.  It tales a young woman named Marie who goes by the name "Bella Donna". She works for the Musketeers that serve the king in Paris during the 1680's. She's a skilled fighter and one of the best around. What makes her strong isn't just her skills with the sword. She has amazing agility, can endure pain that others would deem impossible, and she uses her seduction to manipulate opponents to her advantage. As the story goes on more of her backstory is explained and you start to learn more about her and how she developed her abilities. The characters around her are either humorous, full of energy or exciting as each person has their own personality and nothing feels tacked on like a wasted page or space.

Another aspect of what I like about this series is that it's not afraid of adult themes and takes them as a normal part of the world. The simple boob shot or murder and torture are just there and are not the most important thing about the story. What makes this book different from others is that Marie is just a strong individual and the men aren't downplayed to make her look better in comparison. In fact, I don't want to spoil but I would say almost every woman in the book are stronger characters that of their male counterparts. However the men still have significant roles in the story and their actions are more about their experience and not a bland stereotype that I often see.

The illustrations are simple but realistic enough where you can imagine an actual person in this setting. The danger feels real, even for Marie, since anyone could die in the story and it would still have an impact on the plot. The story's conclusion has a open end where they could end the tale but continue where they left off anytime they wanted to. I feel that this comic is one of the few to get the strong female protagonist right while not shying way attention to the male gender just to make a point. I would high recommend anyone who hasn't read this yet to try to find a copy and own it. The only few downsides are that from the second to third novel the tale feels a bit rushed and it's only made up to 3 books. But it's still a fun read if you have free time and wanna has some fun with comics again.